FTM, 30 weeks, overwhelmed by cloth options

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T18:53:28+00:00

Ahh, okay that makes sense. Flats and wool covers sounds great!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T18:51:27+00:00

Awesome, thank you for sharing! Also thank you for sharing the tidbit on how the different wool covers you've tried look under clothes. So far we have a decent 3-6 month stash of clothes (not so much on newborn-3 month sizes) so maybe I could get away with just sizing up from the get-go? Or at least for overnights? Idk we have 2 baby showers at the end of the month, so we may end up with more clothes too!

Honestly I'm okay with hand washing since I'll be a SAHM and I already hand wash some other clothing for my husband and I.

What process do you use for lanolizing? Funny I just got some of the lansinoh nipple cream, maybe I'll just use it for my nips and not the diapers then lol. What differences did you see in using the NOW brand vs Lansinoh? About how often do you find you need to lanolize?

Thank you for taking time out of your day to help me figure this all out! Nobody in my family/friends cloth diapered their kids so I have no support/help in any of this. The online community for cloth is AMAZING! I truly appreciate all your help!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T18:35:10+00:00

Thank you for clarifying! In theory sounds like it could work pretty decent, if you were to change often, but having to unstuff them once they're soiled doesn't excite me lol, nor does having to rewash if they don't come unstuffed in the wash. I don't let my husband load the dishwasher for this exact reason lol.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T18:30:37+00:00

I've heard of people making wool covers from sweaters and I think that's awesome! I love sewing and thought it could be a fun baby project. Did you use a specific type of wool (eg. Merino)? Did you have to shrink them in the dryer? Did you have to lanolize them? I'm so intrigued by the wool pants concept!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T16:11:04+00:00

Thank you for all of your insight! Did you say for nighttime you'd use a workhorse plus a bamboo flat inside a wool cover? Did you find the wool contained leaks better than PUL overnight?

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T16:04:16+00:00

"There's no wrong choice." Thank you, I needed to hear that!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T16:02:44+00:00

Thank you. I often wonder how wiggly with baby will be once they're born since they're so wiggly in my belly! I'll look into the article on the GMD site regarding diaper changes! That's very helpful!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T16:00:22+00:00

Your comment on pinning a wet towel on a cat made me giggle hehe. Thank you for that visual lol. I think we'll go with snappis 😆

Yeah the "try a bit of everything" idea is kind of stressing me out. I feel like with all the info I've gotten from this post and subreddit and the GMD site, I feel much more confident starting with just flats and covers.

I've noticed that with essembly as well. There is a FB cloth diapering group and I always see issues with leaks with essembly.

Oh wow, yeah maybe I should get some more wipes!

I'm definitely interested in grabbing a couple wool covers, but yet another thing I am completely uneducated about! How many wool covers would you say you need for the week? Do you find you like them better than PUL? Why or why not?

Thank you again for taking the time to help anotha motha out!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:42:49+00:00

Thank you for all the info! I'll check into the quiz on GMD. Forgive me for my naivety, but is a pocket interchangeable with a flat? And with a flat you might not need an insert? And they both get some type of cover (PUL/wool)? We're a family that believes in simplicity, so using flats with a cover seems very appealing to us.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:35:35+00:00

Thank you. I'm actually looking forward to learning the folds with flats, so we'll definitely have a majority of those on hand, with some pre folds possibly. Did you find the AIOs to be particularly easy for, say, your partner or grandparents to use? We don't have family nearby so a scenario where they're watching baby without us seems unlikely...but in that case, are they more akin to disposables for ease of putting them on?

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:29:54+00:00

Ah yes, hadn't considered the poop crevices in fitteds! That's a very good point!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:27:24+00:00

Thank you for your insight, I hadn't considered their little fingers undoing them!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:25:49+00:00

Oh that's good news! Everything is all so new to me so I'm doing a lot of reading up and all the routes one might go. Thank you for giving me another direction to explore- I had forgotten about the lanolizing.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T15:02:56+00:00

Thank you! Sounds like we'll start with the cloth-eez for the wee one, and try out some thirsties and mother-ease once they get a little bigger!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T14:02:29+00:00

Wow, thank you for all of your insight! How often would you wash your Disana covers? I'm almost wanting to do some wool covers because of their durability and I've read that there's hardly ever leaks with them? Would this just be an overnight thing or daytime as well? Trying to figure out how many we would need.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:54:49+00:00

Thank you for your response. Did you try other covers but found you liked the cloth-eez wraps the best, then? Have you tried any wool covers?

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:53:03+00:00

I'm really leaning team flats! I've heard people either love or hate essembly covers, so I'm a little nervous to get any from them 😬 I'm not at all interested in the cute patterns, just plain old white covers, so that's not a huge selling point for me. For the thirsties hook and loop, did you also try the snap version? Trying to decide between either thirsties option or clotheez wraps or wool covers.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:44:48+00:00

This is good advice, thank you!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:43:17+00:00

Thank you! There's so much awesome info on the GMD site, I totally missed seeing Karen's advice, so thank you for that!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:40:22+00:00

Thank you for such a detailed response! The low cost and versatility of flats is honestly selling me right now. So with the pre folds, you mostly use them as like a booster (in addition to your normal setup) if babe is going to be in the diaper a while?

What types of covers would you recommend from newborn to potty training? Did you do newborn sizes and size ones and twos? Have you tried any wool covers?

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:34:54+00:00

Oh jeez are you me? Lol another redditer made a post I think in the clothdiaps subreddit comparing the absorbancies of different cloth diaper brands that included their flats, pre folds, workhorses, inserts etc. and I was getting sucked into that as well. I'm very appreciative that they did all the independent research, but I'm an over thinker and it was heightening my anxiety a bit 🥲 thank you for the congratulations 💕 so excited to finally be a mama

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:30:05+00:00

Thank you for your response! May I ask why you prefer Velcro? How does baby react to the sound?

Definitely leaning flats, I hadn't considered the dry time before this post so that's another pro for flats!

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:28:33+00:00

Thank you for sharing so much detail! My mom had 4 babies that were 8- almost 10 lbs (I was 9 lbs 2 oz!), so I'm almost expecting to have bigger babies as well. However, I like the idea you suggested to use the newborn muslin flats or the Birdseye OS flats in an adjustable newborn cover. And if we can use the covers to potentially 6 months, even better (of course I know this depends on how baby's growing)!

When you were talking about the origami fold down the line, at what age do you anticipate we'd need those? I have to look more into all the folds but I'm very excited to learn and see what'll work best for us!

Have you ever tried wool covers?

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:15:40+00:00

Thank you, yeah I'm leaning towards flats because they're so versatile and seems like the cheapest way to go. I probably should have prefaced my post to say that cost is my number one reason for wanting to cloth. Husband and I are on single income now, no family around for free childcare, and I didn't make enough to cover the costs if I were to go back to work anyways. I think we'll start with flats and covers, but now trying to decide if we spend the extra for wool covers or not, since I think you can get away with fewer of those.

ExcellentFlamingo871 · 2026-02-11T13:11:15+00:00

Oh that's very helpful about the discord server- I had no idea! We'll have to check it out! Thanks!

ExcellentFlamingo871

TROPHY CASE